Sanya, China, April 25, 2026: Saturday afternoons were made for football – and Palestine and China served up a treat in the men’s beach soccer competition at the 6th Asian Beach Games on April 25.
Palestine came out on top of a pulsating Group A encounter 4-3, showing great determination and resolve after being pegged back from leading 2-0 to 2-2 and then from 3-2 up to 3-3 in the third and final 12-minute period.
This is when Palestine scored the decisive goal to win the game 4-3 – a header from Thaer Abuobayda with six minutes to go.
Having lost their opening Group A game 7-2 to Oman, Palestine hit back in style to silence the home crowd and give themselves a fighting chance of qualifying for the semi-finals.
“I am so proud of my team and for all the people in Palestine,” said Kanaan Kanaan, one of the two goalkeepers in the squad.
“It was so hard – but we trained very hard for this match after losing to Oman. Now we must wait for the result of the Oman-China match to see if we can qualify.”
China will play Oman on Sunday, April 26, kicking off at 9pm at the Sanya Bay Yuhai Club Venue Cluster.
Palestine, now level with Oman on three points, will be hoping for an Oman win against China to stay in second place in the three-team Group A table.
Palestine went in front with a soft goal from keeper Ali Al Hawajri in the eighth minute to lead 1-0 at the end of the first period.
Abuobayda made it 2-0 from close range in the 21st minute but China finally gave their supporters something to cheer about by scoring twice in three minutes to level the score at 2-2. First, Gou Yongmin scored from the rebound after his first effort had been saved by the keeper before Tan Fanglun equalized with a looping header on 24 minutes.
In the third period, Palestine captain Alaa Atiya restored his team’s lead with a thundering drive, only for Cui Zhiyao to pull China level 3-3 with a left-foot effort on 27 minutes.
The stage was set for Abuobayda to win the game with his second goal of the afternoon – a header – on the half-hour mark. This time there was no way back for China.
